The Shadow [a marvel fanfiction]

A Very Avenger Christmas: Chapter Three

"Ow!" Marie hissed as she stabbed herself with the sewing needle for the fifth time. She sucked on the wound and pouted when Bruce laughed.

"You're horrible at this."

Marie grumbled under her breath and grabbed two pieces of popcorn. One to eat and one to add to her short popcorn strand.

"If you keep eating the popcorn, we're not going to have any left to string," Bruce said. His popcorn strand snaked across the dining table and hung off the side, almost touching the floor. This was his idea, a tradition he had with his grandparents when he was young. Marie gratefully joined him—until she started losing nerve endings.

"Wh-What's the point of using pop-pop-popcorn?"

Bruce scrunched his glasses up his nose. "It was the poor-man's Christmas tree decoration in the twentieth century, before people used string lights. My grandma would sometimes use popcorn and dried cranberries. She liked to put them outside for the birds to eat."

Marie looked outside. She could faintly see Central Park. She had never seen popcorn in trees before, especially not in New York. She grimaced at the thought of attracting ­more pigeons.

"We-We're not going to-to-to do that, right?"

"No," Bruce grinned. "As funny as it would be to watch pigeons swarm the tower, we're keeping the decorations indoors."

Marie continued stringing popcorn and pricking her fingers. She enjoyed her time with Bruce. They chatted idly about (his) Christmas traditions and (his) holiday memories. Learning from each of the Avengers about their holiday experiences was both enlightening and disheartening. It made her life seem dull and empty; she grasped for flashes of memories and stories to share.

"I think I-I—I think I remember m-making paper chains at the-the-the hospital..." Marie said slowly. The images were blurry. Red paper and tape and interconnecting circles.

"Probably," Bruce nodded. "That's a common alternative for children, less messy and—"

Muffled shouts cut him off. Marie turned as the elevator doors opened and green spilled out.

"—almost there—"

"—understand why we—"

"—better be a branch up my—"

"—going to fit anywhere—"

Tony, Steve, and Sam miraculously managed to carry a twelve–foot Christmas tree into the lounge and wrestle it into a corner. Pine needles littered the floor behind them. Marie's jaw dropped at the monstrous size of the tree. How did they even get it into New York?

And then the smell hit her. Marie scrunched her nose and tried to breathe past it. "What the hell is that-that-that smell?"

"That is the lovely sent of fresh pine." Tony inhaled deeply and released a dramatic sigh. "It just oozes Christmas."

Marie nodded carefully and looked at the popcorn strands she and Bruce had made. It would take centuries to cram enough stupid pieces of popcorn to wrap around the whole damn tree.

Sam strolled over and dug his hand into their popcorn bowl. "What's this, you guys got a little art project going on?"

"It's a popcorn garland." Marie slapped his hands away. "Stop eating my-my-my materials."

"Enough with that, it's going to the birds," Tony said. "We have twelve feet of evergreen to decorate and three hours before the new Hallmark movie premieres so chop-chop people!"